>> hundrs of thousands showing up on wednesday. we'll see you at 6:00. ♪ this is a special edition of "world news" tonight. the largest tropical storm ever recorded in the atlantic blasting the east coast. winds gusting to 86 miles per hour. a crane blown off a skyscraper. the incredible images from americans under siege and entire towns under water. a house collapsing and a pier crumbling and the dramatic story of the ship that sailed into the heart of sandy battling 18-foot waves until it capsized and sank. a passenger saw a heroic helicopter pilot coming to save them. and new york city watching the waters rise. the busiest city in america, a landmark line a ghost town. and on this night when 60 million americans are feeling the effects of hurricane sandy,

the abc news team is out in force on every corner of the storm. tonight, the moment it crashes on land, our team in the storm zone bringing you what's happening at this hour as "world news" begins. good evening, and welcome to this special one-hour edition of "world news," and as we come on the air, it is happening right now, hurricane sandy crashing on shore. winds now at 90 miles per hour, and this storm is so big, so vast, 60 million americans will feel its power. tonight our extreme weather team is all over the storm zone ready to report, so let's go straight to abc's meteorologist ginger zee, who is right in the bull's-eye as the storm is hitting the shore now in atlantic city, new jersey. ginger? >> we're essentially inside the storm, diane.

it is just to our south. we're easily getting into some of the worst stuff, 60 to even 74 miles per hour, that threshold of hurricane force, one of the worst storms that has ever hit atlantic city. this city is basically under water. water from the ocean, water from the bay. it is everywhere. this is the storm that we forecasted and then some. it is chaos along the jersey shore. the super storm battering the barrier island. in the crosshairs atlantic city. the road into this sea front town is completely submerged. damage started early, massive chunks of boardwalk littering the streets. street after avenue after cul-de-sac inundated. so we just picked one. plain street and started knocking on doors. >> the water starts coming in our house we'll go upstairs and we got our kids.

we're going to snuggle in a ball and hope for the best. >> reporter: once it peaked waves at the shore could grow to 20 feet. out at sea up to 40 feet. you got to take a look at how the winds have picked up and this is what happened. debris like pieces of the boardwalk three blocks, the ocean back there. crashes up and over. you see that one, pushing ocean water. the storm is on top of us right now. and it's only going to get worse during the next high tide. so this is taking shelter, what you're seeing right now. that's what we're doing if you can believe it or not one of the safest and driest places. this will be a historic storm for so many but the storm surge is still 90 minutes away from high tide here. we'll have many more pictures throughout the broadcast but for now, we'll head back to diane. >> okay, thank you, ginger. we'll check in with you throughout this one-hour broadcast. now, this is the view from above. the superstorm stretching

across one-third of this country from florida to canada. 1,000 miles long delivering the kind of rain seen once every century. the flooding waters rising for hours to come as ginger said and abc's weather editor sam champion is reporting from lower manhattan, also about to be hit, sam. >> yes, and, diane, i'm standing in water, new york harbor is actually over the edge here and we're standing in it. this is, by the way, driftwood that just washed up. now you know before i came to abc news i covered new york weather for 25 years. i have never seen water in lower manhattan. there is water now on the streets in lower manhattan. let's show you where this storm, by the way, is going to make its move once it's now on shore but follow this and it's very difficult to see where the center of the storm is but it's practically right on that jersey shoreline but then this storm continues to be a problem even once it's on shore. kind of stepping into that pennsylvania border by the time we get to tuesday.

then spins tuesday almost all day tuesday in pennsylvania. then wednesday, almost all day wednesday into thursday in western new york state. each one of those areas will have tropical storm-force wind gusts and still some heavy rain and flooding to be delivered with this storm. and it was an amazing little surprise that sandy had in store for us when at the very last minute almost like going for the finish line sandy made a motion straight for the jersey shoreline almost doubling its speed. the east coast is being pummeled with the power of a record-breaking superstorm. >> oh, my god. it's washing everything away. >> reporter: 90-mile-per-hour winds, driving rain, record-breaking high tides and rough surf lashed the coastline. as the storm made landfall in southern new jersey. the mid-atlantic and southern new england shores hit hard by flooding. water lapping at the doors and sea foam piled up high on the boardwalk in seaside heights. in new york city a construction crane buckled dangling in high

winds and raising the concern of other construction sites. the governor closed bridges, tunnels and doubled the number of national guard troops deployed. north carolina has been pounded by sandy for over 50 hours. roads have been washed away and this house in rodanthe swept into pieces. throughout the day, sandy was breaking records and had one big surprise, doubling its speed and barreling toward the shore, faster than anyone expected. up and down the east coast, residents were warned to stay home and take mandatory orders for low-lying areas seriously. >> it is not a time to be stupid it is a time to try to save yourself and your family. >> reporter: public transportation for over 12 million people was shut down in new york, philadelphia and washington, d.c. and concerns don't ease after sandy's landfall. more than a million people in 11 states are already without power. and as many as 10 million may lose electricity as the storm

pushing inland. this is a record surge of water, diane, that we're witnessing right now. if you can see on the other side of new york harbor, one of the superlatives is the largest storm ever in sandy hook, new jersey, right over there just about eight feet and now this water is rushing over the edge of lower manhattan. and if you think this storm was just new jersey coast windmaker, yes, those winds were about 90 miles per hour on the shore there but we had an 86-mile-per-hour wind gust as far north as the rhode island coast, diane? >> okay, sam, we'll be checking in with you, as well and now we go to rehoboth beach, delaware. 10 million are at risk of losing power, and we asked abc's david kerley to tell us what's happening there and how fast. david? >> reporter: good evening, diane. you can take a look at some of these waves back here. as an angry, angry ocean that is coming going to be up on the boardwalk in rehoboth beach but

i want to tell you about the one thing we've been keeping an eye on. it's this lamppost and these lights are still on. still electricity, more than 1.25 million people without power. we'll have more on what's going to happen to them in the coming hours. >> okay. david, good to check in with you. also want to go to long beach, new york, because long beach built a wall of sand as a defense against the ocean, and abc's ron claiborne is there to tell us if it's holding. ron? >> reporter: good evening, diane. that wall of the sand berm they built along the shore held out for quite a while but if you look over my shoulder it is all but now obliterated. the pounding surf and rising tide took it out, the erosion the wind, it is gone and that water is flowing from the beach here into the city of 35,000. this suburb of new york city. they're expecting a storm surge of somewhere between 4 and 8 feet. it is possible this entire low-lying barrier island will be overflowed with water in the next 12 hours or so.

diane. >> okay, ron. and now, as you have heard, the water is flooding into new york city. and it's where we're tracking the national damage and also the winds are bearing down on the city of skyscrapers tonight, "20/20" anchor chris cuomo is covering this city in this storm. chris. >> reporter: hello, diane. you know, we wish we didn't have to be standing in the water but it's moving too quickly to change positions. already we've had more water from sandy than we did last year from irene. we're being told that protectively they'll shut off power down here soon so we hope everybody has gotten somewhere safe. sandy is coming. the question is, how will new york city handle it? the big apple has been shut down to its core. lower manhattan looks like a ghost town. wall street will be closed for consecutive days because of weather for the first time since the 1800s in a place where you have to look up to see where many live, skyscrapers are a concern. wind speeds on the ground are

half those on the top floors. sometimes forcing buildings to sway. >> the further up you live the more reason you should close your drapes and just stay away from windows. >> reporter: watch this bath water slosh in a brookline high-rise in gusts of barely 40 miles an hour. half what's expected from sandy. at ground zero still under construction special precautions as teals have worked for days to disassembly a mashed down piece of machinery. fears heightened by that ten-ton steel arm dangling from a high-rise building. but the main threat from sandy is storm surge. not just flooding, surge effect hits like a liquid fist powered by 80-mile-an-hour winds. sandy brings potentially an extra 6 to 12 feet of sand and river flow that could fill manhattan like a basin. 375,000 people have been told to evacuate. directed to 76 shelters around

the city. but this is new york and that means there are others who are deciding to stick. a ten-foot wall of water and people want to stick. >> have a couple of pints. we sink or swim. this is what it's all about. it's a community in new york city, no better place. 17 miles away, but it just shows that it's no joking matter. hopefully, tomorrow, we'll be able to say sandy was not as bad as expected but for right now, we ask everyone, please, prepare for the worse. diane. >> all right. chris reporting. here in new york, it is the second strange storm, second year in a row, 14 months ago, you may remember this was hurricane irene moving in. in but by comparison hurricane sandy is twice as big. and here's another sign that sandy is like no hurricane we've seen.

as it hit charleston, west virginia, tonight because of that cold front moving in, it dumped snow, a blizzard of snow. expected to dump up to three feet of snow, hurricane snow in the southern appalachian mountains. and the turbulence of hurricane sandy has shaken the race for the white house eight days till americans go to the polls, "your voice, your vote" today president obama and governor romney put the bricks on the campaign until sandy is over. abc's jake tapper explains. >> reporter: president obama was a no show to his own rally in orlando, florida, this morning, whisked away on air force one to get ahead of the worst of hurricane sandy, and to warn those in its path. >> when they tell you to evacuate, you need to evacuate. >> reporter: the white house eager to show the president looking in command released these two photographs meeting with advisers preparing for the storm. between his and mitt romney's campaigns, 30 events have been canceled. two events went on without the president.

including one in youngstown, ohio where many former president clinton and vice president biden got a firsthand feel for the storm's winds. those heavy winds and rain may impact early voting in ohio and four other contested states are directly in the storm's path also with early voting. s president is not scheduled to be back on the campaign trail till wednesday but that like everything else this week is subject to cancellation. diane? >> all right, jake, thank you and coming up here, incredibly dramatic story, hurricane sandy sinks a mighty ship. survivors pulled from the open ocean, one washed away. the search tonight. ally bank. why they have a raise your rate cd. tonight our guest, thomas sargent. nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world.

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until the ship went down. the passengers huddled into a small raft in 40-mile-per-hour winds and an incredibly brave helicopter pilots came to their rescue. our matt guttman is with that story in elizabeth city, north carolina. >> reporter: with choppers slamming around in 50 miles per hour winds, their fuel burning fast, the first divers lowered into the unknown. you can see the "h.m.s. bounty" crew bobbing in waves 30 feet, their faces poking out. rescue swimmer, dan todd, one of today's heroes. >> i jumped in. i said, hey, i'm dan, i heard you guys need a ride. >> reporter: pulling the survivor into the water, he would swim it to the helicopter. the pilot fighting to hold steady at nearly 30 feet. >> this one is swinging really bad. >> reporter: survivors hoisted up one at a time. >> yeah, 20 to 30-foot waves hitting you from different sides. i was tired after six, and then we straight over to the next life raft that had three more people.

>> reporter: 14 people total across the mountainous waves and the two-hour flight back to land. jenny fields was one of the pilots. >> as we left the scene, some got emotional realizing they had left shipmates behind. >> reporter: partly because two sailors are still missing. this chopper going back to look. this boat featured in "mutiny on the bounty" and "pirates of the caribbean." about kuft accustomed to those seas. look at it in this video two years ago, and the ship's captain facebooking "it's safer at sea than port, but it loses its generator, the "bounty" is taking on water. the crew has abandoned ship, and human works bopping 100 miles from shore. and they're not the only ones. and passengers on the disney "fantasy" cruise heaved around, doors slamming, terrified passengers told to stay in their rooms. >> just stay in your cabin. >> reporter: diane, the coast guard tells us just moments ago that they went back out to sea.

they managed to find one of those two missing people. they tried to revive the woman. she was unresponsive. the captain of the "bounty," diane, is still missing out at sea. >> all right. thank you, matt, and as this story makes clear, all over this storm zone there are courageous people ready to risk their lives to keep everyone safe as hurricane sandy bears down, and i'm going to introduce you to some others when we come back. the pitch! whoa! so why are you doing his? only your doctor can determine if your persistent heartburn is actually something more serious like acid reflux disease. over time, stomach acid can damage the lining of your esophagus. for many, prescription nexium not only provides 24-hour heartburn relief, but can also help heal acid-related erosions in the lining of your esophagus. talk to your doctor about the risk for osteoporosis-related bone fractures and low magnesium levels with long-term use of nexium. possible side effects include headache, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. other serious stomach conditions may still exist. let your doctor do his job.

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visible in atlantic city underneath the dark sky as you saw there, as many as 85,000 citizen soldiers, we are told, and airmen, are ready to respond, fly in and help their neighbors in this storm. and among those standing watch in new york, a dedicated scuba diving response team taking on huge waves in the darkness to save anyone who needs help. 14-year veteran sergeant terrence sullivan is one of them, and he joined me today at the water's edge. how big are these swells, these waves going to be? >> it's going to be, you know, five to ten feet swells here. if somebody was to fall in the water or jumps in the water, we're going to respond and try to get them out. >> during irene did you have to pull anyone out? >> kayakers on staten island. >> kayakers? >> yes, i don't know what they were thinking. once this picks up, you're not going to beat it.

>> you rescue people out of their cars? >> yes, unfortunately people still driving out there and what's going to happen when the water comes back up again, it's going to be higher than it was earlier today and people will get stuck and call 911, and we'll respond. >> give me a sense of being in a 25-foot wave in scuba gear. how many pounds is that scuba? it's probably 60 pounds of scuba gear with the weight belt. >> do you say anything to each other before you head out on this kind of night? >> to the men it's all about being safe right now. whatever we do, we have to make sure nobody gets hurt today. >> what do you say to them? >> well, i'm not going to lie to you. my wife wasn't happy i had to go to work today, and i probably won't be going home tonight. i'll see her in a few days, and that's about it. >> what a team, and, by the way, you couldn't see it quite there, but as we were standing there, the statue of liberty was in the rainy distance. i asked the sergeant about that. it's been closed down because of the hurricane.

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take a look at that. it is water pouring in from the beach flooding cape may, new jersey. and now we want to go back to abc's weather editor sam champion for the latest on the storm at this minute, so, sam, tell us, you're in lower manhattan right now. >> yes, diane, good evening. i'm actually in the harbor, new york harbor right now as that water continues to come onshore. here in battery park we picked up another probably 6 inches, maybe even more than a half foot of rain or storm surge water here, and it's still coming in. we have about another hour and a half before the high tide cycle. let's show you where this storm is going now that it's found its home along the shoreline. we believe this storm is going to continue cutting across southern new jersey and then run that little border of pennsylvania right there with

delaware and park itself there for a little while. now during the day tomorrow, it will still have these strong tropical storm-force winds and plenty of rain and doesn't exit the u.s. until friday into saturday in the northern way. dia diane. >> okay, sam, i think i can see that water up to your knees right now and want to tell for those of you we're saying good night but for the rest of you we will take a short break and be more with our special one-hour broadcast of "world news," so please stay with us. have a safe night. tonight boys of summer arrived home. we're live at the world series winners get a big welcome back. >> from boys of summer to a winter storm, we'll take over from pounding waves to piling snow. we're tracking pro gress for you. >> international guard is on storm duty tonight. the search and rescue role it

will play as the hurricane develops.. >> and a story only on abc 7 news tonight. remarkable recovery of a young woman who took a spill in yosemite. >> theing moment san francisco city hall. giants sweep world series and tonight, they have come home champions. good evening, everyone, i'm carolyn johnson. >> our giants return home today as conquering heroes. world series champions again. here is bruce bocci with trophy in hand arriving about two hours ago. he led his team on its journey home this afternoon. from the airport it was straight to the ballpark today. that is where abc 7 news is live to begin our extensive coverage. here we go again. another parade.